Threads

Just a short blog, with a few photos, to share my excitement…

I thought it was going to take weeks to source this item for my piece to make for New York, but I found it!

It is a 1940 British Infantryman’s greatcoat. I have spoken before about how things speak to me in junk shops… well this was a risk, this was eBay, I didn’t even get the chance to sniff it before I bought it, but it is perfect. Worn, stained, tatty and torn, moth-eaten. There is so much evidence of the man who wore it, and the life he lived in it. I am quite emotional about it really.

I will need to clean it up a little bit, a brush and a sponge down here and there, and I will perhaps steam it a little so that it hangs better for exhibiting purposes.

Then the stitching will begin.

An act of love.

The work I’m doing at the moment, apart from the search for military coat, is totally focussed on the show with Bo in October. So I’ve decided that the specific stuff about the art can go in our joint blog, “pix”, but the general stuff can be here, as the issues concern everything else I do.

Framing…

In recent years, I have not made work that needs framing. Methods of display have required inventive use of steel cables, bias binding and stuffing.

This stuff does require it. It is two-dimensional mostly, and requires something substantial to give it an impact/importance. Especially in the gallery it is in, in the town it is in, and especially as I would quite like to sell some of it. And there it is. I said the S word. Yes. Selling. The last few years have cost me a fortune, and I’d quite like to get something back. I don’t think I have compromised my art thought processes, but I have perhaps selected and framed and priced, according to what I think will be attractive to a buyer. And now, I have a possible trip to New York to finance. Having work that people want on their walls, as opposed to work they will be interested in in a gallery situation is different.

Gallery…

The gallery we are in for this exhibition is in a quite well-to-do market town in Herefordshire (publicity material to follow soon). We both have links to the town, but it is not close to either of us. This coupled with the fact the gallery has NO online presence AT ALL, means we have to do everything ourselves, apart from the very local stuff, which the gallery owner is happy to do for us. Be prepared for social media bombardment, and please if you feel so inclined, we’d be very grateful for any word spreading that goes on.

Stewarding…

We will be doing this ourselves, and roping in other people to accompany/help. Luckily I have friends who are quite willing to spend a whole day with me for nothing more than a free lunch!

All in all, this is a huge investment of effort, time, money, emotion.

All for a week of travelling to the gallery and back, in the vague hope that someone might quite like these scraps of stitched fabric enough to buy one of them. If I sell one, I cover my petrol costs. If I sell two I cover the framing. If I sell three I cover the cost of eating while I’m there. If I sell four or five I might cover materials costs. If I sell six I cover publicity/printing costs. If I sell seven, I shall buy myself a cake to celebrate! If I sell eight, I shall feel like I am famous artist! Saatchi won’t want me, but that’s ok.

When I said a couple of posts back that nothing was happening, it was a little white lie…

(“a snowball of little white lies will crush your house” Guy Garvey, of course)

The more attentive blog readers will have noticed Wendy Williams call for people interested in joining their group to go to New York. I fired off a hasty email, and I’m in! Hopefully, come April, I will be off over the pond with my work, and a shed load of other amazing artists, who quite frankly make me feel a little inexperienced and inadequate, but hey ho, got to start somewhere eh?

Anyway… my idea for this exhibition involves the use of a military greatcoat.

I had no particular thing in mind, except that I did think an RAF one might look a bit “Torchwood” so if I could get an army one that would be better. However, I went for a wander today in Wolverhampton, with a friend well versed in the vintage and second hand. We found a couple of things, but not quite right… It is through doing this though that my needs have become clearer, more specific and probably much harder to find. I don’t care about size or condition though, so that will help. What I do want though, is authenticity. British or American, with a bit of age to it.

I found a short army jacket that looked pretty good, but I wasn’t convinced really that it was genuine. I don’t know enough about these things to guess. And I would look pretty stupid if I pretended. A fake one would not say the same thing as a real one would it? I’m trying to decide if I could cope with a really good replica…

So the hunt continues…

If anyone has one that they wouldn’t mind donating or selling to me in the name of Anglo-American special artistic relations, please let me know! You can’t have it back after (unless you buy it back as art) as I am going to embroider all over it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpCw3RGdlKE

Yes, stuff has to sink in. The last post was a bit scary… what next? Thankfully it didn’t last long. A long hard look/read going through the last couple of sketch books. Remind myself of the path I started along, and the reasons why. And of course, another chat with my friend and collaborator, Bo. I’ll not go into details here about that work, will leave that to post on our joint blog in a few days. (www.a-n.co.uk/p/2910921)

I seem to have come up with a set of rules for myself though. Anyone else do this? The work must conform to a set of pre arranged rules that fit the concept. If I was prone to such things, I might call it a manifesto. It goes to the root of things. Yes, it has come about because of, and is specific to, this body of work, but it has sprung – no not sprung, too quick – it has oozed out from underneath my MA, finished one year ago, almost. It has taken that long. Nobody warns you about the post-MA thing. So I’m warning you, if you are doing it now, or about to undertake it… be aware. Ruth Geldard (www.a-n.co.uk/p/3134411/) and I had a brief exchange on her blog about it – how it simultaneously disassembles you, and gives you the tools to rebuild. Then you go into a state of shock. Then, hopefully, you are able to rebuild. Again, beware, it might take a while. And I’d like to say that it can be a painful and depressing process too.

The rules concern my processes, for this project, and possibly others too, time will tell. It concerns the aesthetics, and the narrative… the story I tell myself to prove the work is good… solid… dependable… strong enough for scrutiny. It concerns the message: avoid tautology. My watchword. Simplicity. Elegance. Nothing unnecessary. Pare it down.

I hope then, that if it is simple (simple doesn’t always mean easy) and I’ve done it well, there will be an unobscured truth and clarity to the work. There will be space within it, uncluttered, for the viewer to insert their own narrative.

Those who know me, will know how I detest arty bollocks. It is hard to express some things without resorting to that… but I hope I’ve done it without too many people tutting and rolling their eyes.

Well, I did a little bit of proper thinking. I’m not too sure that it has got me very far. I drew a flow chart, plotted all my bits of work…. This was the map to find my way through it. Which I did! I navigated my way round this diagram, drew arrows, linked ideas together. Certainty arrived. I closed the book with a smug, tired smile. I put the lids on all the coloured pens I had used to make this treasure map. Content, I slept. For ages!

Then I woke up.

Certainty is a slippery little beast isn’t he?

I looked at the words again, and they were fine, but something was bugging me about it all. It seemed perfect still, so what on earth was the matter with me?

It is now, 3 days later that I am struck by it. It is only now, after all the decorating is finished that I have time to sit and make something. So here I sit. I am surrounded with materials, I have my map, what else can I possibly need?? Bug bug bugged… oh bugger…

Where do I go now? Hahaha! What an idiot! I know where I’ve been, but still no idea what to do next. There is no sign of any resolution to all this. If anything, more questions. I don’t even know what I’m going to do right next… the next step… pencil or needle?

Maybe I need to upgrade from home made treasure map to sat nav?

Meanwhile, as there is no news today, let’s all listen to a bit of soothing music…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YgjZ4oPrj4